When Yesterday Comes Calling, page 12
She was quiet. The baby continued to wail.
21
After a long minute she said, `You're still with that girl that had the trouble, then? Is she in trouble again? No, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Look, Harry, I can't see a problem but Colin's not in right now and I'd have to talk to him before I make a decision. When do you need to know?'
`Yesterday, Kitty. It's urgent.'
`Really?'
`Really.'
`Well, we do need the money and nine animals isn't many. I love llamas too but Colin's not a fan. Calls them un-Australian.'
She was wavering so I asked her to call Colin and ask him as it really was an emergency.
`There not sick or anything are they?'
`No, no, it's just that they need to be moved to keep them safe.'
`Look, I'll make the decision and persuade Colin later. Sure. When will they be coming?'
That was something I hadn't worked out. I had to get Anna out of the way long enough for a truck to come, load the animals and get far away before she came back. Fortunately, the llamas liked and trusted me so I knew I could betray them as well as Anna. I also had to work out how to deal with her fury when she found them gone.
I thought of blaming the Mladenovics but her rage might let them know we were onto them. I still had a small belief that they didn't know that. Of course when she knew I'd done it everything to do with our getting closer would vanish.
There was no win here. But it had to be done. The hardest part was getting Anna away for long enough. I dared not send her alone to the city. That was an invitation for the Mladenovics to kidnap her. I had to be there when the truck arrived to steer the llamas, Billy, and Charles into the transport, and I had to have a minimum of an hour to do it. If the truck was late or early it would all be for nothing.
All I could think of was sabotage. While Anna was out in the back paddocks, I ordered a truck from the local stock movers for that afternoon and warned Kitty that the animals would be arriving late. Then I started a small fire in the barn and hosed down and ruined all the llama's feed including the new stuff in bags. Next I put a hole in the fuel line of her car.
Finally, I called her to tell her about my `accident'.
`You did what? How dumb was that?'
I wore it for a minute then told her that I'd ordered replacement feed from Alexandra, a town further away than Marysville.
`Why Alexandra?'
`The local guy doesn't have enough.'
`Jesus.'
When I explained that they'd only hold it for this afternoon and that she'd have to go herself she was disgusted but philosophical. I felt terrible at the betrayal and girded my loins for the fallout that was to come, but needs must.
Soon after she left, Jerry's `bug' man arrived. Anna's house had indeed been `bugged.' And very sophisticated they were too, said the fellow. A very tall, very thin man with a tufted forelock and few words. He found three devices and disabled them. He asked if I knew when they'd been installed and warned me that there had to be a recorder somewhere. It meant the person who'd left them would be back for it.
I asked him if he could find it for me. Using some sort of beeper, he found it under the floor of the living room where it was high off the ground.
`Not a very good hiding place,' he said. `Anyone could find it here.'
Except I couldn't have. He grinned at my sheepish look and patted my arm paternally as he handed me the bugs and the recorder. `Not operating now so yours to keep I think. Useful, just in case. Never know when you might need to use them.' He laughed as he drove away.
Everything went to plan with the animals, including that Anna ran out of fuel halfway back from Alexandra and I had to go and get her. It was dark before we got back. That was when I told her what I'd done.
To this day I don't know how I kept either my head or my hearing. I've never seen anyone lose it like Anna did that night. She beat me, cursed me, screamed at me and ultimately shut me out of the house. I knew I wouldn't get a chance to explain so I'd already left a note inside.
What upset me most was that whatever my chances with Anna had been they were now totally screwed. But I wasn't leaving her alone whether she wanted me too or not. I went to the UTV shed and wrapped myself in some dry bags from and some horse blankets and was trying to stay warm when my phone rang. Wendy had died. Mladenovics, two. Us, zero. We hadn't laid a glove on them. Greg was choking back tears as he told me but said something odd.
`She was doing quite well too, Harry, all things considered. Now this.'
`What do you mean?'
`The docs thought she had a fighting chance. She was coming out of her coma and seemed to be picking up, then… I suppose you can't really tell when someone's that badly hurt. Her sister Marie's convinced it was the dark spirit of Luka that came for her.'
I felt sick. Maybe it wasn't a dark spirit, but a bad man who had to keep her quiet.
`Greg, can you do me a favour? Ask the medics to do a toxicity test on her.'
`What, drugs?'
`Yes. See if she had the right amounts of whatever they were giving her?'
I rang Sergeant North at the Richmond police station. He was about to leave for the day but took my call.
`Had some second thoughts, Mr Nichols, have we?'
I told him that Wendy had hinted that she had an idea what Patrick had found out and was going to let me know if she was right. That she was afraid some very bad people might be involved. She was hit by the car before she could say any more. I also told him that the word she'd whispered when I bent over her was `mob'. Because of the shock I'd forgotten that until now. I repeated Greg's comments about Wendy's condition and how the doctors had been hopeful and were surprised that she'd died.
I didn't know whether he believed a word of it but it would give him something to go on with. Next I rang Kitty. I got Colin. He told me the animals arrived in good condition. He'd put them into their barn as I requested and they were all fed and settled for the night. The dog was with them also as I requested. He felt that was an indulgence but I pointed out that she would keep them settled. I heaved a huge sigh of relief.
I asked them to send a formal contract with all the details of the agistment fees etcetera. My task now was to get Anna to Sydney and to do that I had to get her to talk to me. I reckoned it was better to leave that until morning. There would be a long, cold and uncomfortable night before I got to that.
It was dark in the barn but up here in the hills there was starlight and plenty of it. City people forget how bright the night sky is, but I'd just come back from the Himalayas and was used to it. I stared up at it until the cold got to me. I closed the door and lay down in my pile of hessian bags and blankets that smelt strongly of horse. The stars somehow put things into perspective. Our trials were only a tiny puff of smoke in their eternity.
I woke after a cold restless night with a crick in my neck. It was just first light and the sun was still way below the hills. I stumbled to my feet in the icy shed and pulled Billy's scratchy blanket around me. I could just see the dark outline of the house through the bushes. Would Anna get up when she remembered she had no chores to do? Or was she already awake and cursing me?
I had to face her whatever the cost. We had to see this lawyer in Sydney. The chances that the Mladenovics would dig him out were high. If they did, it was game over. I could hear Anna moving around inside so I knocked on the back door. No answer. Of course. So I went around to the living room windows and tapped. I could see her and I knew she'd seen me.
She continued to ignore my tapping so I walked around the house again and again tapping on every window. After she ignored me for over half an hour I used the nuclear option. I sat in my car and leaned on the horn. I didn't let up until she came flying out of the house in a rage. I jumped out of the car and grabbed her just as she turned to run back to the house.
`Call it assault if you like,' I yelled as I held on as she struggled and kicked at me, `but you have to listen to me if you want to stay alive to get them back. You can punish me any way you like after this is over but for now stop being a stubborn moron.'
`Stubborn,' she screamed. `Stubborn. When you don't understand how I feel for one minute but just bang on about what you want to do. Let go of me or I'll file charges.'
`No. Not unless you're prepared to listen for two minutes. Then you can file charges if you like and if they let me out I'll come to your funeral. What kind of flowers do you like?'
She kept struggling so I shoved her into the car and locked it. There's not much room to throw punches in a car. Not that she didn't try but she really isn't stupid and she realised I had her beaten.
`I'm sorry I called you a moron,' I said. `You're not and I know how terribly upset you are—'
`Do you really?' she snarled. `I don't think so.'
`Anna, any minute now we may be visited by the crooks who are doing this. And by the way, Wendy died.'
That stopped her. She went white. `But you said—'
`I know. Look I'll fill you in later but we have to get out of here. If I'm right, we'll be able to trap at least one of these killers. Just don't hit me while I'm driving.'
She looked at me strangely as I drove up the hill in the opposite direction from the town.
`Trust me, please Anna.' I drove until we were hidden from her front gate by a slight bend in the road and a large tree trunk. I turned the car around. I wished we had her gun but you can't have everything. I'd loaded a shovel and some rope in the car earlier. That would have to do.
22
I sat silent for a minute or two. `Can you see the road up to your gate?'
`No. Would you please fill me in on what's happening? Why are we up here?'
`We're waiting.'
`Oh, right. Of course we are, but what the fuck for?'
`A bad man.'
`Anyone we know?'
`I don't know.' And I didn't. I wasn't even sure anyone would come. They might just write off the failure of their `bugs'. But I didn't think so. They'd want to make quite sure that their quarry, Anna, was secure. Not that they'd necessarily confront her but my bet was they'd find some kind of excuse to get inside and plant new ones. Delivery men were not an option up here but phone line technicians could be.
Sure enough fifteen minutes after we parked, a Telstra van drove up to Anna's gate and drove in.
`What's he doing here?' she hissed. `He's not a real Telstra man. You have to book one up here. And I didn't.'
I waited for a few more minutes. I wanted to give him time to get into the house. I handed Anna my phone where I'd locked in the local cops’ number on speed dial. Then I slowly let the car into gear and rolled down the hill and through the open gate, parking right across the bows of the van.
The sound of our wheels across the gravel must have disturbed him because the front door started to open as I stopped. I was out in a second and raced to the opening door with the shovel raised. Anna bolted to the back door with the rifle inside. A bald head appeared and I hit it with the flat of the shovel. The man dropped like a stone. I stepped over his prone body with the rope ready to tie his hands but as I did he grabbed my ankle. I fell and he rolled on top of me.
He was a very large man and his weight alone had me almost paralysed under him. Then he had his knee in my back and his hands reached for my neck. He pulled my head back and I felt my vertebrae crunching together. He was going to break my neck and there was nothing I could do about it.
Then a steely voice brought back the awful moment six months ago. `Let him go.'
The pressure lifted slightly and I spun away from him. I rolled as he threw himself back onto me. A shot rang out. I had no idea if he'd been shot but if he had it didn't stop him launching himself at Anna. Another shot rang out and he screamed and dropped to the ground clutching his thigh.
`That's just for starters,' snapped Anna, waving her rifle. `Now get in there, you bastard.' She pointed at the front door. `The next one will be in your knee. Or your cods, you choose. Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. You're going to tell the police why you broke into my house. And why you're driving a fake Telstra van.'
He staggered to his feet and limped heavily into the living room, clutching his bleeding leg.
`Sit over there,' snapped Anna, pointing at the door to the utility room. His face crumpled in fury, the big man slid to the floor.
`And why are you carrying these interesting little things,' I said, picking up three small electronic devices from the kitchen bench. They exactly matched the ones Jerry's man had removed yesterday. `Look Anna, they look exactly like these ones.' I held the original ones up.
The man groaned in more than just pain. I leaned over him. `I don't think Luka will be too pleased about you getting caught like this, will he?'
In a heavy eastern European accent, the man muttered, `I don't know what you talking about. I just do job.'
I tied his hands behind his back before I got some towels and packed them over the wound in his thigh. I didn't want to kill anyone any more than Anna did. I thought the threat to his manhood was a classy one though. Few men would risk that.
While we waited for the police I changed into clean clothes and booked a flight to Sydney for us on a late afternoon flight. We'd have to meet Kelling the next day. On the way I'd let Anna ring Kitty about the animals and try to mend some fences. If we were to be in close contact for the next couple of days, it would be better if she didn't keep seeing me as some kind of Stygian monster.
The police arrived before the ambulance did and were not happy to find a man with a bullet wound even if he was a housebreaker.
`What is it about you Ms…er…? ' the now Inspector Sawcross said, rolling her eyes when she saw the injured man.
`Felby,' said Anna.
`Yes. I know he trespassed—'
`He didn't just trespass, Inspector,' I said, `he seriously assaulted me and threatened to assault Ms Felby. In fact, he was rushing at her when she fired the gun. You'll be able to see that when your people examine the trajectory of the bullet. She was stepping back to get out of his way when the gun discharged. It was totally self-defence and could even be seen as an accident.'
`The bitch say she shoot me in balls. That no accident,' the man called out as he was carried away.
I thought I caught a twitch of the inspector’s lips but it was fleeting. I didn't think it was politic to say anything about the large bruise on the side of his head. They wanted us to make statements at the police station and we agreed that after we'd packed we'd be right there. It would make catching our fight tight but do-able.
At first Anna ground her teeth at my making arbitrary decisions on her behalf but I just said, ‘Stubborn,' and she marched into the bedroom and packed her things.
`You are welcome to do the same any time,' I said, but she didn't smile.
Apart from essentials we didn't speak again until we arrived in Sydney. Even the chat she had with Kitty hadn't made her less angry with me. On the way to the hotel I tried to explain that the animals were safer if she didn't know where they were. They would beat it out of her and kill them if she didn't do what they wanted. This way, even if they killed her at least her animals would be safe.
That didn't make me feel any better at all, but I hoped it might get through to her. It did, in a way, but she said she knew I didn't believe that, I was just saying it to get her to talk to me.
`True. Because talk we must. Once we find out what this guy Kelling knows, we have to work out how the Mladenovics found out that there was anything here at all. Then we have to find out how to keep you especially, and me, out of their way until we can figure out how to beat them.'
`Do you think they'll be watching Kelling?'
`I don't know if they even know about him. I bet they're watching George Mayhew though.'
`If they are, they'll kill him, won't they? Then they'll kill you. Not that I care about that after what you did. Well…only a bit. It looks like everyone around this is going to be killed by these people. So we have to kill them first.'
A chill ran down my spine. She spoke completely without emotion. Her mother was the daughter of the ruthless Milos Mladenovic and the most cold-blooded person I had ever met. Anna was his granddaughter. Could she be cold blooded enough to execute someone? If her love for her old horse Dixie and her other animals was any guide, the answer was no.
`Do you think?'
`How else can we stop them? If we don’t, they'll kill us. Unless you've got any ideas?'
I didn't. None.
We called Tom Kelling first thing the next morning. He took the call himself and cheerily told us that he'd be happy to fit us in any time between his getting up and lunch. When I asked what time he roared laughing.
`I told you, I'm retired. Just drop in, but don't be late. I lunch at one. Who are you again?'
I began to have some doubts about Mr Kelling but persevered. After I told him who we were, he became quite conspiratorial, whispering down the line. `Ah, yes. Have you got all that stuff I asked for?'
When I assured him we had, he whispered an address that wasn't his official office address. He was so faint I couldn't hear him, so Anna snatched the phone out of my hand and spoke loudly. The whispering disappeared as the old man shouted down the line.
`Oh, dear me. Is that you, Annabel? My word, I don't think I need all that stuff. I could never make a mistake about you. You sound exactly like your mother.'
Anna threw the phone at me and strode towards the window peering out at the busy street below.
`Can you repeat that address, Mr Kelling,' I said. He did. `Just take the Mosman Ferry, dear boy. I'm right above the cliff.'
That would have been fine if either of us was familiar with Sydney's harbour-side suburbs but we weren't. I'd booked a hotel that was near his office address and now I cringed at the amount of money we'd have to pay for a taxi to cross the harbour bridge.
